An Empire : Ocean-wide 



Yet it was persevered in. Before the close 

 of 1857, that year of Indian Mutiny horrors, 

 the first attempt was made. Four hundred miles 

 of cable slid safely down, and lay upon the 

 ocean-bed. Then as it ran out from the ship, 

 it snapped. That was a failure. 



Next year another attempt was made. Two 

 ships, each bearing half of the great coil, came 

 together in the middle of the Atlantic, and 

 " spliced" the ends. After which they parted, 

 one going east, one going west, each laying its 

 own share. But again the cable broke. 



Enough remained on hand to supply the place 

 of the lost length. A third effort followed quickly. 

 For a while success seemed to crown persever- 

 ance. The whole cable was safely down ; and 

 messages were exchanged. Whispers from the 

 Old World to the New went under two thousand 

 miles of ocean, and answers came back. Then 

 the wire ceased to speak. In some manner, 

 connection was severed. 



Time passed, and for a space no more was 

 done. But in 1864 the Great Eastern started, 

 carrying the whole of a new and much stronger 

 cable more than two thousand two hundred 

 miles long; and of so solid a make that each 

 mile of it weighed three thousand pounds. 



279 



